CNN panelist calls out media 'rooting' for Kamala Harris: 'Let's ask serious questions'

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CNN panelist demands media ask Kamala Harris 'tough questions' about previous left-wing positions

CNN Panelist Reihan Salam demanded journalists ask Vice President Harris "tough questions" about her left-wing positions on important issues as she becomes the Democratic nominee for president.

Manhattan Institute president Reihan Salam called on members of the media to apply more scrutiny to Vice President Harris and question the "left-wing positions" she advocated for in the past.

"There was a brief moment for about three weeks, between the presidential debate and between when Biden stepped out of the race, when actually a lot of the media was doing its job, it was holding powerful peoples' feet to the fire. It was asking tough questions. There are a lot of folks who were really embarrassed by not having been applying more scrutiny. And now what you see, is a total suspension of that scrutiny," Salam told a CNN panel Monday night.

"And I think a lot of people want to see the media doing its job. Let’s ask serious questions about Kamala Harris‘ record. Let’s ask about the quite stridently left-wing positions she was taking as recently as 2020, has she really changed her mind? What exactly has she been doing in the White House?" he said. 

Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president after President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race. Democrats quickly rallied around Harris after the announcement. 

FLASHBACK: SEE HOW KAMALA HARRIS ANSWERED WHEN SHE WAS CONFRONTED IN 2020 AS ‘THE MOST LIBERAL SENATOR’

CNN panelists clashed on Monday over the media's treatment of Vice President Harris. (Screenshot/CNN)

CNN host Abby Phillip pushed back and said she knew Harris' position on issues because journalists had asked her about it. 

Salam responded, "There are some who are making an earnest attempt to do their jobs. But there are a lot of others who I think, frankly, feel a sense of animal spirits and excitement. Biden's out of the race, now you have someone who is generationally closer, ideologically closer to them. And so there are a lot of folks who I think are really rooting for her. And I think that when you’re looking at a lot of conservatives and moderate folks in the broader electorate, they‘re not necessarily seeing the same vigorous scrutiny."

The Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Solomon Jones said he was offended by the accusation from Salam, and noted that he interviewed Harris four times. 

"I have interviewed Kamala Harris four times, twice in person, twice when she was a candidate and twice as vice president, and so I‘ve asked her all of the questions that I thought that my listeners, my readers wanted answered. And so I don’t understand this accusation against all of journalism that nobody has asked her these questions," Jones said.

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Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked early on in the Biden administration with addressing the root causes of mass migration from Central and South America.  (REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt/Pool)

Phillip also said she was offended by the accusation during the exchange. 

Vice President Kamala Harris has seen her favorability among American voters rise dramatically after Biden announced he would be dropping out.

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Harris’ overall favorability rose from 35% to 43% compared to a week earlier, while the vice president’s unfavorability rating fell from 46% to 42%, according to the results of an ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted on Friday and Saturday.

Fox News' Michael Lee contributed to this report.